Dahlia Freeman came to Valenne to restore a damaged royal portrait-not to uncover a secret that could destroy a monarchy.
Beneath layers of paint, the Black American museum conservator discovers evidence of a woman deliberately erased from royal history. If Dahlia's suspicions are correct, the truth could invalidate the succession and cost Crown Prince Alistair Laurent his throne.
Alistair is ordered to watch her.
Dahlia refuses to be controlled.
Their clashes are immediate, sharp, and far too charged. But when the palace announces Alistair's engagement to a noblewoman, Dahlia knows exactly where she stands.
Then photographs surface of the crown prince leaving Dahlia's hotel room.
Within hours, she is branded a seductress, a social climber, and a foreign threat. To contain the scandal, the palace demands that Dahlia publicly admit she pursued him.
Alistair refuses.
Instead, he announces to the world that Dahlia is the woman he intends to marry.
He neglects to tell her first.
Now trapped in a fake royal engagement, Dahlia must survive palace racism, political betrayal, a furious aristocracy, and a conspiracy determined to bury the truth forever. But the closer she gets to uncovering the woman hidden beneath the portrait, the harder it becomes to deny that her feelings for Alistair are becoming real.
The prince may have chosen the Black American.
But Dahlia will decide whether he-and his kingdom-are worthy of her.
A dramatic BWWM royal romance featuring a fake engagement, palace intrigue, forced proximity, forbidden love, class differences, historical secrets, and a powerful Black heroine who refuses to disappear.